Coverage Basics
How a Minnesota auto policy actually works.
An auto policy is really a stack of separate coverages, each answering a different question. Here's the plain-language version of what each layer does, and how we size it.
Liability: the coverage that protects everyone else, and you
Liability is the legally required core. Bodily injury liability pays for injuries you cause to other people, and property damage liability pays for the cars and property you damage. No-fault doesn't erase that exposure: once the injured person's medical bills pass $4,000, or the injury is permanent or disabling for 60 days or more, they can sue for pain and suffering. Minnesota uses modified comparative fault, so you can recover only if your share of the blame isn't greater than the other driver's. When a claim exceeds your limits, you're personally on the hook for the rest.
Our rule of thumb is simple. Your liability limits should reflect what you have to lose, not what the state requires. For most homeowners we quote 100/300/100 or higher, and for families with meaningful assets we pair auto liability with an umbrella policy, which adds $1 million or more of protection across home and auto and is often affordable relative to the protection it adds.
Collision and comprehensive: the coverages for your own car
Liability never pays for your own vehicle. That's the job of collision and comprehensive, together often called "full coverage." Collision handles crash damage, whether you hit another car, a pole, or slide off an icy ramp into the ditch. Comprehensive handles nearly everything else: deer, hail, theft, vandalism, glass, fire, and falling branches. One Minnesota detail worth knowing: hitting a deer is a comprehensive claim, but swerving to miss it and hitting a tree or another car is usually a collision claim.
Both come with a deductible, the amount you pay before coverage kicks in, and the deductible is your main pricing lever. Raising it from $500 to $1,000 can trim the premium meaningfully if you have savings to cover the difference. On an older car worth a few thousand dollars, it's also fair to ask whether collision still earns its premium at all. We'll run that math with you honestly, even when the answer lowers our own commission.
PIP and uninsured motorist: the coverages for your own injuries
Your own injuries are handled first by your personal injury protection: up to $20,000 of medical bills and $20,000 of lost income and other non-medical losses, no matter who caused the crash. When the other driver is at fault and has no insurance or not enough, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage steps into their shoes. Minnesota requires 25/50 of each, but with about 11.3% of Minnesota drivers uninsured, we usually size UM/UIM to match your own liability limits.
Wisconsin drivers: different rules across the river
Wisconsin is an at-fault state, so there's no PIP requirement. Drivers there need 25/50/10 liability and 25/50 uninsured motorist coverage. Underinsured motorist is optional, but if you buy it the minimum is 50/100. Like Minnesota, Wisconsin bars recovery if you're more at fault than the other driver. Block Agency is licensed in Wisconsin, so we build Hudson and River Falls policies to Wisconsin rules.
The add-ons: useful, but only where they fit
The remaining pieces are situational, and this is where a real agent earns their keep instead of a checkout page upselling everything:
- Rental reimbursement pays for a rental car while yours is in the shop. Cheap, and worth it for anyone who can't be without a car for two weeks.
- Roadside assistance covers tows, jump starts, and lockouts. Worth having for a January dead battery; skip it if you already have a roadside membership.
- Gap coverage pays the difference between what you owe on a loan or lease and what the car is worth if it's totaled. Essential on new cars with small down payments; unnecessary once the loan balance drops below the car's value.
- Rideshare endorsement extends coverage for Uber, Lyft, and delivery driving. Minnesota sets coverage rules for rideshare periods but lets personal policies exclude them entirely, so if the app is on, you need this. Driving for your own company is different again, and needs commercial auto.
None of this needs to be memorized. Bring us your renewal, tell us how you actually use your cars, and we'll walk the stack together, line by line, in plain English.
